Boebert’s Antics Could Cost GOP a House Seat in Colorado, as Democratic Rival Who Nearly Beat Her in 2022 Announces Fundraising Haul

Congresswoman Lauren Boebert’s chief opponent, Adam Frisch, is proving to be a formidable fundraiser in the swing district.

AP/Patrick Semansky, file
Representative Lauren Boebert during a news conference on Capitol Hill, July 14, 2023. AP/Patrick Semansky, file

Congresswoman Lauren Boebert’s growing list of controversies and mini-scandals may cost the GOP a key House seat in Colorado, as her Democratic challenger, Adam Frisch, announces a formidable fundraising total.

Ms. Boebert has found herself making headlines recently, not only for her antics in Congress but for an embarrassing public display of affection caught by a security camera at a recent showing of the popular musical “Beetlejuice” at Denver.

Ms. Boebert’s expected Democratic opponent in 2024 on Wednesday announced that his campaign had raised nearly $3.4 million for their rematch. Ms. Boebert represents a district that includes cities like Pueblo, Grand Junction, and an ultra-wealthy ski resort, Aspen. In 2022, Ms. Boebert defeated Mr. Frisch by 546 votes.

“I am deeply humbled by the over 100,000 individual donations that were made to our campaign this quarter to defeat Lauren Boebert,” Mr. Frisch said in a statement.

In the recent “Beetlejuice” incident, Ms. Boebert was seen vaping, singing, telling off a pregnant woman sitting behind her who asked her to quiet down, and engaging in inappropriate, amorous behavior with her date.

Ms. Boebert denied initial reports of her vaping and being ejected from the theater but later acknowledged and apologized for her behavior after CCTV footage was released showing her at the theater. Ms. Boebert later apologized for her behavior, saying she “fell short of values” at the “Beetlejuice” performance and calling the experience “difficult and humbling.”

“There’s no perfect blueprint for going through a public and difficult divorce, which over the past few months has made for a challenging personal time for me and my entire family,” she said.

Ms. Boebert is in the process of divorcing her husband of 18 years, Jayson Boebert, with whom she owned the Shooters Bar and Grill at the Colorado town of Rifle. They have four sons together. The Shooters Bar and Grill was recently forced to close after the landlord did not renew its lease. 

In March, Ms. Boebert announced that her oldest son had conceived a child with his girlfriend, meaning that the congresswoman would soon be a grandmother at age 36.

Her controversies have found their way to Capitol Hill, where she’s been locked in a nasty feud with a fellow conservative House member, Marjorie Taylor Greene, who called Ms. Boebert “a little b—” because she “has genuinely been a nasty little b– to me.”

Earlier this year, Ms. Boebert introduced a resolution to declare the AR-15 “the national gun of the United States.” She has also been accused of embracing the Q-Anon and “Clinton Body Count” conspiracy theories; she denies these allegations.

These Capitol Hill contretemps, Ms. Boebert’s public embarrassment at “Beetlejuice,” and her far-right political stances have become fundraising fodder for her Democratic opponent and organizations supporting him.

Ms. Boebert has also become a favorite target of political groups like Rocky Mountain Values and Progress Now Colorado, which have ramped up the drumbeat of criticism against Ms. Boebert in response to her behavior, focusing on her as opposed to other Colorado conservatives, like Congressmen Ken Buck and Doug Lamborn.

Ms. Boebert has not yet announced her own fundraising totals for the most recent period. In the prior fundraising period, Mr. Frisch significantly out-raised her.

In the first two quarters of 2023, Mr. Frisch raised about $4.4 million, more than twice as much as Ms. Boebert’s $1.6 million. 


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